Spirit of Leadership

THE HIDDEN LEADER IN YOU change until you “know.” Knowing changes your mind, which transforms your attitude, which, in turn, informs, directs, and regulates your behavior. William James wrote, “The greatest discovery of our gen eration is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind. As you think, so shall you be.” 2 This was really a rediscovery because, centuries earlier, another generation heard a similar truth from King Solomon, the wisest and richest man of his day, who essentially said, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” What a person thinks in his heart is what will ultimately come out in his actions. However, the challenge is in knowing how to change one’s attitude. If attitude transformation were simple, then many of us would have changed a number of times during our lifetimes. Most of us are not leaders today because, in our hearts, we don’t believe that is who we are. From my extensive expe rience in training people in leadership, I have found that what is often missing is a sense of the inherent leadership spirit that lies within them. What and how we think about our purpose in the world is the basis of our attitudes and actions, toward others and ourselves. Your future and ability to succeed aren’t tied to what others think of you. They are tied to what you think of your self. The source of your attitude is your mind-set and thoughts. That’s really what the spirit of leadership is all about.

THE LEADERSHIP SPIRIT AND THE SPIRIT OF LEADERSHIP

In this book, I make a distinction between the leader ship spirit and the spirit of leadership so that you can better understand your leadership potential and the attitude that

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